Bangladesh population of tigers belongs to P. t. tigris(Linnaeus, 1758) subspecies referred to as the Bengal Tiger, is a valid subspecies from the time it was founded by Linnaeusand it has recently been well established by the DNA analysis (Luo et al. 2004). According to them the Bengal Tiger probably arrived in the Indian subcontinent approximately 12,000 years ago.

Tiger used to occur in and around all the forested areas of Bangladesh until the 1950s and in many villages up to the beginning of 20th century (Mitra 1957, Khan 1985, 1987a, 1987b, 1996, Khan and Chowdhury 2003, Khan 2011). Village-grove-dwelling tigers completely disappeared when the last tiger was shot in Banglabandha, Panchagarh, in 1962 (Khan 1987ab).The Sal forest population decimated by 1980s when those in the forests of the hill districts by the same period too. In these two forest ecosystems the decline is nearly 100 percent. Thankfully, the population in the Sundarbans appears to have stabilized since 1990s. Various estimates indicated the Tiger numbers between 106 and 500 (Ahmad et al. 2009, Khan 2011, 2014, Bangladesh Forest Department 2015 in litt.). In view of the disappearance of all populations from the village groves, mixed evergreen and Sal forests and being down to a single population restricted only to the Bangladesh and India parts of the Sundarbans, its unabated poaching and habitat destructions Bengal Tiger in Bangladesh has been categorized as Critically Endangered.

Only viable population is in the Sundarbans in the southwest of Bangladesh, but tigers are rarely sighted in the bordering areas of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (particularly in Kassalong Reserved Forest and Sangu Wildlife Sanctuary) and very rarely in the bordering areas of Greater Sylhet (particularly Patharia Hill Reserved Forest) straying from the neighbouring forests in India.

Availability of a sufficient prey based on large ungulates (particularly deer and wild boar) is the key requirement of the Tiger. Tigers need to kill 50 large prey animals per year (Karanth et al. 2004). Tigers are opportunistic predators, however, and their diet includes primates, porcupines, birds, fish, rodents, insects, amphibians, reptiles, etc. Tigers are generally solitary, with adults maintaining exclusive territories, or home ranges. Adult female home ranges seldom overlap, whereas male ranges typically overlap from 1–3 females. Tiger home range and density depend on the prey abundance: densities range from 11.65 adult Tigers per 100 km² where prey is abundant to as low as 0.13–0.45 per 100 km² where prey is more thinly distributed (Nowell and Jackson 1996).

Habitat

Tigers are found mainly in and around the forests of tropical Asia, although they historically occurred more widely in drier and colder climes. One subspecies, the Amur Tiger P.t. altaica, persists in the temperate forests of Russian Far East. The Sundarbans is the only mangrove habitat for Tigers in Bangladesh.

Niche

Terrestrial.

Elevation

0 to 2 m above sea level in the Sundarbans, but the occurrence in the highest elevation was recorded at 4,500 m in Bhutan (Wang 2008).

Home Range

Tiger home range size depends on prey abundance. In high density areas female home range averaged 20 km², while in low density areas it is as large as 450 km² (Sunquist and Sunquist 2002).

The destruction is considered as about 60% during last 40 years. It virtually disappeared from mixed evergreen and deciduoussal forests of Bangladesh.

Trade

There is no legal trade, but a few tigers are killed every year for collecting skin and different body parts. Even three cubs were rescued from poachers in June 2012.

Hunting

On average, 5 tigers are killed every year in and around the Sundarbans by poachers and angry villagers (Khan 2011). In both cases the skin, teeth and other body parts are taken for illegal trade.

Others

Sea-level rise due to global warming, together with devastating cyclonescoud pose serious threat to the tigers in the Sundarbans.
Isolated population, making it vulnerable to disease outbreak and genetic drift.
Adverseeffect of oil spills, shipping routes through the Sundarbans and Coal-fired Rampal Power Project within about 10km of the Sundarbans.

1. In depth study of physiology of the Tiger in the Sundarbans as this is the only popopuation of it that lives in salt water environment andin the mangrove forest.
2. Regular monitoring of the Tiger and prey population densities.
3.Study on tiger-human interactions.
4. General biology, ecology and behaviour of the Tiger.
5. Study on status and distribution of the Tiger in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Management

1. Following Bangladesh Tiger Action Plan 2009-2017, the Government should formulate a separate tiger management strategy. 2. The Government should have a separate entity to manage the entire Sundarbans, inlcuding its wildlife, possibly under an umbrella of a new department of biodiversity or wildlife conservation.
3. Serious measures should be taken up for proper implementation of Bangladesh Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012, so that there is no killing of the Tigerand prey in the Sundarbans.

Captive Stock

About 20 Tigers are in captivity in the zoos and safari parks of Bangladesh. There is no Tiger known to occur in private custody in the country. Genetic status of these specimens need to be deteremined to find out its purity and future possibility of releasing back to man-made mangrove forests stocked with deer,wild boar and macaque.

Others

Development of national capacity for monitoring, translocation, and other aspects of the Tiger and prey by training the Forest Department officials working in the Sundarbans.
Ensure compensation for the loss of life and property of the people who enter into the Sundarbans and those who live around it.

IUCN is implementing its flagship project titled “Updating Species Red List of Bangladesh” as a sub-project component of the “Strengthening Regional Cooperation for Wildlife Protection Project” of the Bangladesh Forest Department funded by The World Bank since December 2013. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ is widely recognized.